U.S. high yield bond activity continued apace last week as issuers look to complete offerings before the Thanksgiving break. Volume totaled $6.675 billion, bringing year-to-date activity to $300.3 billion. That's only the second time U.S. high yield issuance has topped $300 billion, according to LCD's Matt Fuller. The first was last year, when activity totaled a record $345 billion.
The activity comes as institutional investors put money into the high yield bond market. Indeed, net inflows into U.S. high yield funds for 2013 reached positive $2.36 billion last week after being deeply in the red for much of the year, especially during a period this summer when investors all but fled the high yield bond market after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke talked of tapering the U.S. Government's bond buying program. How tepid was the market? U.S. high yield issuance in June totaled a paltry $12 billion.
Of note this week, T-Mobile USA (BB/Ba3) wrapped a $2 billion offering backing general corporate purposes while
Bond yields continue to wither. The average yield on a BB rated issue over the past 30 days sank to 5.63% last week from 6.09% at the end of October, according to S&P Capital IQ/LCD.
